MINUTES of the Meeting of the SHARED MANAGED SERVICES TOPIC GROUP Held on 8JUNE 2012

MINUTES of the meeting of the SHARED MANAGED SERVICES TOPIC GROUP held on 8JUNE 2012

ATTENDANCE

Members of the Topic Group:

D Andrews (Chairman), M D M Muir, S Quilty, P A Ruffles, R G Tindall (Vice-Chairman

Officers present:

Also Present:

A M R Searing (Chairman of Overview and Scrutiny Committee

4.5Conclusions

4.5.1Members were pleased to hear that over the 8 years of the SMS relationship HCC has contracted for Serco to deliver guaranteed savings of £35m, approximately 19% of the pre-contract costs, with forecast additional savings of around £12m coming from the existing transformation business cases. Members welcomed this contribution towards the Council’s transformation target of £200m by 2014/15 and the partnership work being undertaken with Serco. They asked that further work should be undertaken to see if it was possible that the relationship could contribute more savings towards the transformation target e.g. through the commissioning opportunities that are likely to become available through the development of the Health and Wellbeing Board and the Clinical Commissioning Groups where Serco/HCC should be encouraged to investigate potential opportunities for further SMS partnerships.

4.5.2 Members noted that, to ensure continuing value for money, there are also provisions within the contract for regular benchmarking exercises to be undertaken by Serco at their cost, to ensure that the contract price remains competitive over the full 8 years. They also endorsed the work being undertaken by HCC officers to engage with other authorities, learn from them and apply this learning to the SMS relationship.

4.5.3Members were advised that when the contract was established the in-scope services provided KPIs against which performance could be measured. It has become apparent that there may be too many (circa 200) and in some cases they are not ‘SMART’. Members asked that a review be undertaken of the KPIs to identify which are the main KPIs, grouping them together by service and then deciding whether some can be removed and others simplified. Members agreed that all that are left must focus on outcomes. They also recognised that there may be a need for additional KPIs as services transfer to Serco. Members asked that their member performance reports be altered to reflect these changes.

4.5.4Members took evidence from the Serco Operations Director. They were pleased to hear that Serco thought the first year of the contract had been successful, albeit challenging. Members welcomed the progress being made to implement an internal helpdesk ‘Ask Us’ which provides staff with a single point of contact for all their back office queries. They also noted the improvement in customer satisfaction across all services, in particular noting the continual improvement in the performance of the ICT service desk from a low starting base in April 2011. They asked to be kept informed on a regular basis of customer satisfaction levels and the progress being made to implement the ‘Ask Us’ service.

4.5.5Members were advised that the key strategic objectives for the SMS District Framework were to put in place the ability for the 10 Herts Districts and Police Authority to “call off” contracts to enable them to benefit from the HCC procurement, subject to individual business cases. The framework contract that has been established allows the Hertfordshire Districtsand Police to buy any of the services which Serco are providing to the County Council at rates based on the marginal cost. Members were told of the latest position regarding call-off from the SMS contract by the Districts and Police. Members welcomed the progress to date but asked that further encouragement be given to extending the take-up both through the work of officers and those members who are twin hatters.

4.5.6Looking to the future the ongoing programme of Service Improvement Plans (SIPs) for the core services provides the mechanism for Serco and HCC to work together to improve the efficiency of the core services. In addition, the Customer Transformation Programme (CTP) allows Serco and HCC to work together to identify and develop new opportunities, supported by robust business cases, to improve the customer journey and deliver further efficiency savings. The partnership allows Serco to comment on areas outside of the SMS contract scope where improvements could be made. (It was noted that any such developments require an appropriate process and cannot be simply delivered by Serco). Members welcomed the sharing and transfer of information with them when services are transferring, as evidenced in the HCS case study, and asked officers to consider whether this approach could be further developed.

4.5.7Members recognised that some of what HCC was doing with Serco was cutting edge. They asked that changes continue to be introduced in a controlled way, concern being expressed that if too much was undertaken at once the result could be failure. Whilst Members supported the desire of HCC and Serco to extend the advantages of SMS countywide they were unanimous in expressing the view that any work undertaken should not impact on the performance and services of HCC which should remain at the core of operations. In particular members highlighted:

• Social care access, where they recognised the desire to maximise online access but asked that due care should be taken of those Hertfordshire residents unable to access services online.

• SAP, where although members recognised that changes had to be made to the system because of factors such as legislation and tax changes asked that changes should not be made that undermine current sound accounting principles and so avoid disruption to a system that they felt needed a period of stability.

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